The U.S. and Iran are set to meet for another round of diplomatic talks on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, President Trump announced on Monday after a series of retaliatory strikes in the Strait of Hormuz threatened to upend the peace process.
Mr. Trump said that Iranian officials had requested a meeting in Doha but did not elaborate.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran had no plans to attend, continuing the Islamic regime’s pattern of contradicting the U.S. or sending mixed signals.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re holding up our end of the ceasefire. Violence will be met with violence,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The president obviously wants to see the peace process play out.”
Ms. Leavitt said special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff would lead the U.S. team in Doha. The two officials represented the U.S. in previous talks with Iran.
She also insisted the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was still in place, despite a destructive flare-up over the weekend.
“The meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not. We’re going to find out,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office. “We’re winning militarily – almost won, militarily, I would say.”
The U.S. and Iran traded strikes in recent days following a drone attack on a commercial tanker traveling through Omani territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz. While Iran has not claimed responsibility for the strike, the U.S. said it was Iranian drones.
The U.S. military launched attacks on Iranian military facilities late Friday in response to the attack on the M/V Ever Lovely container ship, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit “surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities.”
Iran retaliated on Saturday with a strike on the Panama-flagged oil tanker M/T Kiku as it attempted to traverse the Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain and Kuwait, which house significant U.S. military installations, both reported detecting Iranian drones and missiles on Sunday.
Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. The ministry released photos of an 8-story building, with the top floor destroyed, filled with rubble and windows blown out.
The weekend strikes were perhaps the greatest challenge so far to the ceasefire deal, outlined in the recently signed memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. The memorandum’s first provision calls for a ceasefire on all fronts of the war that began in late February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The agreement also allows for a 60-day negotiation period during which time the U.S. and Iran are expected to hold several rounds of negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program, control over the Strait of Hormuz and possible sanctions relief.
Control over the Strait of Hormuz remains one of the major roadblocks to a comprehensive peace deal.
Iran closed the strait in early March in response to U.S.-Israeli attacks. At least 20% of the world’s oil travels through the waterway each year. The closure caused international energy prices to skyrocket.
The U.S. average gas price stood at $3.86 on Monday, down from about $4.40 a month ago but up 30% from the start of the war.
Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Iran is required to open the Strait of Hormuz without fees for at least 60 days.
Still, Tehran has insisted that it will retain control over the waterway after the war ends, and officials have floated levying “service fees” on commercial ships traversing the strait. Shortly before the attack on the M/V Ever Lovely, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that ships moving through alternative routes could face severe consequences.
Iran is currently engaged in talks with Oman to determine the framework of future governance of the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. and Iran have also diverged on the future of Tehran’s frozen assets, which Washington must move to unfreeze under the terms of the memorandum of understanding.
U.S. officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, have said that Iran will only gain access to the funds once it meets certain criteria and that even then, it may only be allowed to use the money under certain conditions.
However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that $6 billion of the $12 billion in funds held in Qatar would be released and returned.
The report did not elaborate on when the transaction would occur, and there was no confirmation from the U.S. side, which has said the Iranians will not see economic benefits until they satisfy the terms of the nations’ peace agreements.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.